data employed in strategic planning

Strategic planning thrives on information. An effective planning process employs large volumes of data in several primary categories, far larger quantities than most businesses even try to access. One of the primary functions of our products is to find those data, access them, import them, analyze them, and incorporate them into the planning process.

When you look closely at the strategic planning process, you can see that the data that it relies on fall into four domains.

1. What the corporation is capable of (internal assets – resources & competencies)?
2. Who the corporation is serving (external audit – markets & customers)?
3. Who opposes the corporation (external audit – competitors)?
4. In what setting does the corporation operate (external audit – laws & regulations, economics, technologies, demographics)

In those four domains, there is a flood of data on every conceivable topic and from numerous sources. These are the leading primary sources where these data will be found.

Internal organizational records, systems, and processes
Organization’s internal records and processes
Public government records and filings
Free, privately gathered data (consulting reports and white papers)
Commercial, privately gathered data
News media articles
Academic research findings
Competitive intelligence

The gathering of these data begins within the organization itself. It frequently requires doing an inventory of what is available, searching silos throughout the organization, connecting and integrating the data, then formatting, classifying, and validating what is there.

There are a lot of free and useful data available from federal and state government agencies, consulting firms, professional and industry associations, corporate websites, and university research projects.

For a fee, sometimes substantial, it is possible to access data gathered by professional research firms, trade associations, consulting firms, and investment banking firms

The organization itself can choose  to conduct or contract for original research on its customers, competitors, or any other topic of interest.

After identifying the data it desires, the organization incorporates them into its strategic planning process where it uses them to inform its decisions.

This is a more expansive list of data sources.

Publicly Available

Media articles
Mandatory public filings
Speeches by corporate leaders
Corporate PR announcements and annual reports
Corporate website statements
Industry-specific websites
University research project results

Privately Gathered Commercial

LexisNexis
Hoover’s, Dun & Bradstreet
Credit Ratings –Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, Fitch
PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records)
PAIR (Patent Applications Information Retrieval)
Consulting firms
Market research firms
Trade associations
Think tank publications
Commercial industry newsletters
Investment banking research reports

Original Field Research – Competitors

Contracted surveys and research on competitors
Interviews with employees contacting competitors
Interviews with suppliers also serving competitors

Original Field Research – Customers

Public opinion surveys
Patient satisfaction surveys
Contracted market research on customers
Customer complaints
Facilitated customer interviews
Customer focus groups

Keep in mind that the data that will be considered important will vary from one corporation to another – depending on its mission, operational activities, customer profile and demographics, market parameters, competitor activities and strategies, and the general external environment in which the corporation operates (political/government, legal, profession/industry, economy, sociocultural, demographics, technology, international).